About the most reasonable and accurate thing I have read for a while
I think he’s right. When I drove in the mid 80s you could set off and the next time your boss knew where you were was when you rang in to say you were tipped. That’s a freedom that most truckers can’t imagine now.
We have tracker, one of the first firms to do so, but we carry very high value loads and it’s invaluable as a security measure. It’s rarely used for anything but the security aspect to this day.
An interesting read…
That points the way it’s going to go with telematics and surveillance.
I can only echo Albion’s experience. I used to set off from Hampshire with my load underneath sheets, potter all over England and on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning put 10 pence into a phone box and get my re-load home. For the first five years of my driving in Europe that was also the routine.
No phone, tracker, cameras or Satnavs required.
But, if the robots start driving none of it matters.
Very interesting article. I know the author speaks with a wealth of experience having driven to many places most people have never heard of, let alone find it on their sat nav.
He seems to sum up very well the feelings of a lot of drivers and the way companies are trampling over them without any form of consultation for no apparent gains in real terms.
However, there’s one statement in that article that speaks volumes to me;
“As such, all the workers must act as if they are being watched at all times, and constantly regulate their behaviour accordingly.”
No one will deny the job is being dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, this is seen as a massive insult by the ‘old hands’ who came into the industry by choice, not like so many these days who see the so called massive earnings available on the agency BS adverts. A lot of these people become drivers through no other reason than their desire to earn a quick buck and don’t possess the passion for the job that was once the main reason for entering the industry.
Because of this we now have a far larger percentage of drivers who have no professional pride, no real understanding of what it takes to be a professional driver, and no interest either. These are the muppets who do need controlling and monitoring. These are the muppets that will be seen texting or updating their FB pages while driving around.
So while I completely agree that companies need to engage more, and consult more with the driver workforce before implementing any form of surveillance, the sad truth is still that it does appear to need to monitor in order to instill in some the proper and correct behaviour while at work behind the wheel.
If constant monitoring stops just one muppet paying more attention to his/her phone rather than the road and they don’t plough into a traffic queue, then it was worthwhile.
I appreciate I’ll probably get slated by the professional drivers on this forum for saying all that, but this is not aimed at you, I’m commenting on the muppets who have no interest in the job other than the pay check.
The reality is that any company, once they recognise a need to monitor certain drivers, can’t then pick and choose which drivers to monitor, that would be seen as discriminatory and no doubt open them up to many legal problems.
To those that object to the surveillance, the choice is a simple one, if you don’t agree to it, leave and find a company that doesn’t watch their drivers, in the end there will be a diminishing pool of good drivers chasing the better jobs where they’re treated with the respect they deserve until they too can’t fill their vacancies with professional drivers as they’ve all retired.
Welcome to the future, your industry and job are well and truly ■■■■ 'd !!!
Spot on article I’d say and sums up a lot of companies these days, as he says very little money gets saved by employing these spying tactics and that’s outweighed when a light bulb blows and a fitter has to be called out and takes two hours to get there.
Blimey the realisation is dawning that one of the main upsides of the job,in the form of its relative freedom,is being eroded by probably jealous control freaks,to the point where the upsides are now being outweighed by the downsides.Ironically the surveillance rot having set in long ago with the introduction of tachographs with the rest being inevitable.The owner driver route probably being the best/only way to at least reduce the worst aspects of that type of needless pressure on drivers.
Interestingly though another article from the same people has something else that is relevant to tracking
Don’t like being spied on? Hate that camera pointing at you all day? Use the rules to get it turned off.
Ask your company to provide a copy of all cctv of you under a Subject Access Request. If they fail to provide (maximum £10 fee) then report them to the information commissioner where they can force them or fine them.
Once companies realise that you have a legal right to make them work hard for their tenner, they might switch them off. SAR also applies to all data they hold on you, letters, emails everything written and stored as data.
Happy to help.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Honked:
Don’t like being spied on? Hate that camera pointing at you all day? Use the rules to get it turned off.Ask your company to provide a copy of all cctv of you under a Subject Access Request. If they fail to provide (maximum £10 fee) then report them to the information commissioner where they can force them or fine them.
Once companies realise that you have a legal right to make them work hard for their tenner, they might switch them off. SAR also applies to all data they hold on you, letters, emails everything written and stored as data.
Happy to help.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
If that ^^^^ is correct (and I have no reason to doubt it) it could be a very interesting tool to use. In fact I’m going to take a screen shot in case our pointy heads get any ideas.
the maoster:
Honked:
Don’t like being spied on? Hate that camera pointing at you all day? Use the rules to get it turned off.Ask your company to provide a copy of all cctv of you under a Subject Access Request. If they fail to provide (maximum £10 fee) then report them to the information commissioner where they can force them or fine them.
Once companies realise that you have a legal right to make them work hard for their tenner, they might switch them off. SAR also applies to all data they hold on you, letters, emails everything written and stored as data.
Happy to help.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
If that ^^^^ is correct (and I have no reason to doubt it) it could be a very interesting tool to use. In fact I’m going to take a screen shot in case our pointy heads get any ideas.
Used it twice, got it twice.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
It might also be worth noting in the present climate - “How many disciplinaries are related to actual driving, rather than some minor infringement of company or EU rules”?
Eu and Company rules are of low priority imho) as opposed to “public safety/law of the land/common sense good practice” which in my mind should be the ONLY priorities. 
If your firm is heavily unionized (not common practice in haulage, alas) then the two sets of “rules” are usually amalgamated into what Management and Union see as “Common Good Working Practices”.
Examples would be being sacked for too many wtd tacho infringements, backtalking the boss, upsetting a fellow member of staff by rebuking them on one hand
and on the flipside,
NOT being sacked for injuring a member of the public, damage to vehicles/loads/company property, and of course “making choices that deliberately lose the company money” decisions that don’t benefit staff, company, or the public whatsoever.
One minute you have managers that are sticklers for “the rules”, and the next minute the firm goes under because no one can work out why it’s been bleeding to death financially for some time since - without anyone realizing.
From what I see, “Camera Footage of Drivers” is often used to discipline those drivers rather than protect them against hostile (and external) allegations, perhaps by members of the public (or even staff!) “Trying it on” with what our compensation culture is these days. 
There was a triple murder in my neighborhood not that long ago. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18670799 Camera Surveillance was crucial in placing the accused at the scene - when they claimed they were hundreds of miles away in Coventry at the time of the (now proven) offence. THAT is what Cameras should be used for. Catching criminals, criminal acts, and at very least providing backup to those people who become the people usually most in view by such cameras.
hardyd44:
Interestingly though another article from the same people has something else that is relevant to tracking
So reading this a poster on the wall with everyone’s name and score would be a breach
When I was a TM in the 70s, I would send drivers off on a four day trip and only expect to hear from them if there was a problem. I knew what a reasonable day’s work was and that’s what they got. The rule was that if they were on a night out then they shouldn’t work (paid) overtime. When they drifted in on a Friday, I wanted them to be off home ASAP, because it upset the factory workers to see them hanging around with nothing to do.
The factory I worked at had a machine shop that employed about 25 or so skilled machinists and three or four apprentices… By the 80s they were mostly gone - replaced by computer jockeys with CNC machines.
hardyd44:
About the most reasonable and accurate thing I have read for a while
Although the writer has a point about surveillance, I doubt it puts off many younger drivers who have never known different and have grown up with technology that tracks their movement, from towns and cities full of CCTV, to phones apps and having to have a data box fitted to their cars to get insurance,
The increase in surveillance probably is more an issue in the retention of existing, “older” drivers, who joined the industry when, as other have said, once you were away from the yard you were out of sight of the boss.
Having a tracker fitted is fine with me but then I can’t understand when you get the phone call “how are you getting on?”, look at the tracker ffs 
mrginge:
Having a tracker fitted is fine with me but then I can’t understand when you get the phone call “how are you getting on?”, look at the tracker ffs
Old firm I used to work for we had phones with trackers in so they knew where we were all the time not just driving they used to phone to see where you was at even when they could see ! Didn’t used to bother me them knowing where I was because I wasn’t having an affair like a few that got caught out when they forgot about the tracker 
the maoster:
Honked:
Don’t like being spied on? Hate that camera pointing at you all day? Use the rules to get it turned off.Ask your company to provide a copy of all cctv of you under a Subject Access Request. If they fail to provide (maximum £10 fee) then report them to the information commissioner where they can force them or fine them.
Once companies realise that you have a legal right to make them work hard for their tenner, they might switch them off. SAR also applies to all data they hold on you, letters, emails everything written and stored as data.
Happy to help.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
If that ^^^^ is correct (and I have no reason to doubt it) it could be a very interesting tool to use. In fact I’m going to take a screen shot in case our pointy heads get any ideas.
What’s to stop them “just saying no” though?
Company T&Cs are likely to include clauses such as “No driver will make any unauthorized access to company computers, especially when such access involves restricted video material, including but not primarily pornographic in nature.”
The usual modus operandi can then be “We’ve got you doing xxxx act against your contract T&Cs. Do you wish to take this disciplinary of on the chin, or escalate it up one level should we need to provide printed footage against you?”
In other words, if you push to actually see copies of said video data on you - you’ll probably have the book thrown at you if that proof subsequently is enough to have you fired.
Be careful what you wish for - is what I’m suggesting here.
mrcreosote90:
mrginge:
Having a tracker fitted is fine with me but then I can’t understand when you get the phone call “how are you getting on?”, look at the tracker ffsOld firm I used to work for we had phones with trackers in so they knew where we were all the time not just driving they used to phone to see where you was at even when they could see ! Didn’t used to bother me them knowing where I was because I wasn’t having an affair like a few that got caught out when they forgot about the tracker
Why would the transport office give a ■■■■ if you were - providing you’re not married to the TM of course. 
Firstly they can’t refuse but they can restrict. And if they produce something that incriminates you then they will use it anyway.
There are very strict rules regarding data, there are very strict ways to use it too.